A Difference is Made
by Lily Hanson
Summary: Oneshot following Way of the Samurai: The Battle Continues - Howie still has a lesson to learn. Will he listen?


_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers: Samurai_

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><p>Howie was being taunted and teased mercilessly when he got back to school. Antonio had managed to get the video off the internet (though that was more for Emily's sake), but he couldn't prevent the students from spreading it around amongst themselves. By the time Howie returned to what was once the building he controlled through fear, no one was scared of him. They had all seen or heard how he got beaten up by a little girl who, quite frankly, had kicked his ass.<p>

And the bruising and the broken nose proved it. Howie had gotten his ass kicked.

He tried to take back his crown at the school by threatening those who teased him, but whenever he would they would stand up to him and flick his nose. He would howl in pain and by the time the pain subsided enough for him to do something to the little punk, they were gone.

Or they were surrounded by all their friends.

The football team tried to help, but the less people feared Howie the less they associated themselves with him. If the other schools heard that one of their own, no less the captain, got his butt kicked by a little girl in pigtails, they would be laughed off the field. They didn't want Howie back on the team. They didn't want anything to do with him.

They turned on him. They started to pick on him.

Howie was miserable. Not only did he have to wear a plaster splint on his face while his nose healed, which was humiliating enough, but he had fallen from his throne and was now the jester of the school. His only purpose for coming to this damned building was to make others laugh and entertained them.

And Serena wasn't around to stop them, though he doubted she would. It was a strange twist of fate for Howie. Serena wasn't at school to stop the bullying, which was what he had wanted but now, what he wanted was working against him.

As he opened up his locker, someone raced by and shoved him. He hit his face against the door and screamed in pain, but no one came to help him.

"Mother…" he grumbled. There was nothing he could do about it anymore. He just grabbed his books and slammed his locker shut.

That's when he saw her. Serena's little sister. She was standing right by his locker with a note in her hands.

"I was going to wait for Serena to come back, but her rib's not getting any better. She keeps moving."

"So," Howie pushed past Emily, "Get away from me."

"I wanted to apologize."

"Let me break your face. You took me by surprise last time. I could beat you up, no problem, in a real fight."

"Hey, Howie, careful you don't piss her off!" one kid shouted as he walked by with his friends, "She might kick your butt again."

The kids laughed and Howie clenched his fists. Emily sighed.

"Kids are mean. Don't listen to them," she held out the letter for Howie, "I wrote this for you."

"It's garbage," Howie ripped the letter from her hands, "Now go away."

"I'm really, really sorry, Howie," Emily whispered.

"Get lost."

Emily sighed, turned and left. But before she left the school grounds she made a call. No one deserved to be bullied.

Howie clutched the letter in his hand and stared at it until another kid walked by and slapped the books out of his hands. Everyone laughed as Howie bent over to pick up the books. Some kids kicked them down the hall; others picked up the books and tossed them between each other, keeping them out of Howie's reach.

He had finally had enough. He roared, punched a nearby locker, and stormed off as the bell rang. There was no sense going to school or class anymore. Everyone was just going to make fun of him. Even the teachers were giving him looks and he knew, behind their apathetic demeanour, they were laughing at him.

When the crowd was gone and all the other students were in class, Howie walked to the staircase and sat down. He still had Emily's letter in his hands. With nothing better to do, he opened it up. Hopefully it could give him a good laugh. Like she was really going to apologize and mean it…

"_Dear Howie,_

"_I learned an amazing lesson over the last few days about violence and thought I would share it with you._

"_For starters: it's not worth it. I mean, really, what does it ever accomplish? You threw my sister in the dumpster. You've thrown a lot of kids in the dumpster and you've probably hurt a lot of people in the past. I don't think you feel any more powerful because of it, and now that there are actually people who are punishing you for it, is it really going to be worth to continue?_

"_It's also not worth it for another reason. It hurts a lot of people. Okay, obviously whoever's on the receiving end is in for pain, that's a given, but the offender's probably hurt too. Then there's everyone else. Bystanders feel scared and they'll probably hurt each other, thinking it's survival of the fittess. And the victim's family will get hurt. I was bullied through my entire school life and I remember seeing my mom crying to my dad about it once when she thought I was in bed._

"_So I've learned a lot about violence, and I hope you did too._

"_Get well soon."_

Howie scrunched up the letter into a ball. What did she know? He tossed the balled up paper down the stairs and waited for the bell to ring again. When it did, Howie knew it was lunchtime. He sat by the stairs, creating a roadblock but it didn't matter. People pushed and shoved past him like he wasn't there. Were it not for his size, he would have tumbled down the stairs and probably broken something else.

When the staircase was clear and everyone gathered into the cafeteria, Howie got up. He walked to his locker, grabbed his lunchbox and started for the boys' washroom.

Before he could get in, an arm stretched out in front of the door. He followed the arm to the body and then up to the face. It was Serena. She held up her phone.

"Emily called and I came as soon as I could."

"I thought you weren't coming back."

"It's just a rib, right?" Serena shrugged. "I don't really listen to doctors anymore anyways. They were the ones who told me I was going to die. I'm still standing here, so what do they know?"

"If you don't mind…" Howie said as he tried to push past her, but Serena didn't move her arm.

"Bathroom's filthy," Serena said, "It's no place to bring food. Why don't you come sit with Coach Smith and me? We usually get a table to ourselves."

"And be the laughing stalk of the school?" Howie scoffed, "First I get beat up by your little sister, now I'm teacher's pet."

"You're nowhere near as adorable as Scruffy," Serena chuckled. She gently grabbed Howie's arm, "Just follow me."

She led Howie into the cafeteria and told him to ignore what the other kids were saying to him. She walked him over to the table where she and James usually sat. When she cast a shadow, James looked up, surprised to see her.

"But I thought…"

"The school needs me."

"Do you ever complete your vacation times?" James chuckled as Serena and Howie took a seat.

She shook her head, "If I did, I wouldn't be here. Maternity leave, remember? I should be with my son."

James smiled, "Well, I'm glad to have you back. And Howie, I hope the nose is recovering."

"I would recover better it people stopped flicking it," Howie muttered.

Just then a couple of kids came over, oblivious to the fact that Howie was sitting with James and Serena. One student dumped his pudding over Howie's head.

"What are you going to do about it?" the student asked, "If you threaten me, I'll just get my little sister to beat you up."

Serena sighed, "Apparently there's going to be a party in detention," she said as she stood up. She looked to the two students, "Would you like an invite?"

"You're back?"

"Here's a math question for you," Serena said, "If Howie got his ass kicked by my sister in five minutes, how long would it take her to kick your ass?"

"I… I…"

"I taught my sister everything she knows. So c'mon, tough guy, pick on me. Sticks and stones, right?"

"But it's… it's…"

"It's not any different. Do you feel big and mighty now that you've turned the tables on Howie? Are you somehow better than him? You're doing the exact same thing he used to do to you. That's even more disgusting. _You_ know better."

"We will see you in detention, Mr. Erikson," James said and turned to the student's friend, "Care to join him?"

The second student shook his head and placed his pudding in front of Howie.

"I hope your nose feels better soon," he said and grabbed his friend by the sleeve before running off.

Serena sat back down and gave Howie a gentle pat on the back, "Look at that, free pudding."

"You bullied them…"

"I didn't…" Serena sighed, "There's a difference between being assertive and being aggressive. You stand up for yourself, Howie, but you don't need to put other people down to make yourself feel bigger. Those two boys had no right to dump their pudding on you. I let them know it wasn't okay to do. Did I threaten to hurt them?"

Howie shook his head, "No."

"Did I call them a name?"

"You called them disgusting."

"I said what they were doing was disgusting," Serena corrected. "I didn't hurt them. I didn't have to. They understand they behaviour is unacceptable. I won't tolerate it and neither should you."

"Fine…" Howie muttered. He pulled his sandwich out of his lunchbox.

Serena looked to James sadly. She didn't know how to get through.

Fortunately, James did, "Hey, Howie, how did it feel when Serena's sister hit you?"

"Bad… I'll admit it hurt. She punches hard."

"It didn't make you feel good, did it? You kind of want to hurt her now too, huh?"

"She took me by surprise. I probably could if…"

"Watch it," Serena growled, "That's still my sister."

James smiled at Howie, "My point is, Emily hurt you and now you want to hurt her. Well, I hate to say it, but you've hurt a lot of people here. Naturally, now that they aren't scared of you anymore, they're going to try to hurt you."

"Or each other," Serena said, "They'll naturally pick on the weakest person they find. So all those times you were picking on or teasing other kids… it was fun for you, but it hurt them. They couldn't take it out on you, so they hurt someone else. After Mitch was stuffed in his locker once, he was really hurt. He couldn't get back at the people who did it, so he took his anger out on me. He tried to hurt me. I didn't let his words affect me, but imagine if I had."

"So?"

"If Mitch hurt me, I can't touch him. He's a student and a minor. I'd get fired and charged. My son might have been taken away from me too. So who could I have hurt?"

"She could have hurt me," James said, "She could have said something mean to me; something I didn't want to hear. It could have made me mad. And who would I have taken my anger out on?"

Howie shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know."

"Maybe you and the football team," James suggested. "Maybe that day, because I was in a bad mood, I made practice intense can called you all wusses. Maybe, deep down, that would have hurt you. Then you would hurt Mitch…"

"Mitch would hurt me," Serena said, "I would hurt Coach…"

"And I might hurt you again," James finished. "Howie, do you see what I'm getting at."

"You're the reason I'm a so-called bully?"

"I don't call you boys wusses," James shook his head. "And why not?"

"Because your girlfriend didn't piss you off."

"Serena broke the cycle. Don't listen to these guys. They're just trying to hurt you. Once they realise they can't, they'll move on. They'll talk about girls or make-up or whatever you kids talk about. You'll make new friends, real friends, and everyone, even you, will feel better."

"And we all live happily ever after, right?"

"Now you're thinking like my other sister," Serena chuckled. "Just trust me, okay. I helped Mitch. Doesn't he seem happier?"

Serena pointed over to the cheerleader table, where Mitch was hanging out with his new friends. She even noticed he was sitting close to one of the cheerleaders closer to his age and they seemed to be sharing nervous smiles.

Howie looked over, "Yeah."

"I can help you too," Serena promise, "You just… trust me, okay?"

"And if you can change your attitude," James smirked and Serena gave him a nod. He looked back to Howie, "I can get you back on the team."

Howie looked up, "Seriously?"

"But if you want to be captain again, you will have to lead by example. I can't have a captain you'll encourage the other players to be brutes. Do you want everyone on the team getting their butts kicked by Serena's little sister? You'll be laughed off the field in your next game, guaranteed."

"I'll change, Coach, please just let me have this! I'm trying to get a scholarship and I can't get one if I don't play!"

James held out his hand but before he and Howie could shake, he looked the student in the eye, "You remember the agreement."

"No more bullying."

"Welcome back, captain," James smiled. Howie pumped his fist in the air.

"My dad will be so proud!" he exclaimed happily as he jumped out of his seat, "I have to call him!"

"Changed man," Serena smiled to James. "Thanks for your help. I kind of got stuck back there."

"I know how to talk to him," James shrugged his shoulder, "but you did all the hard work. You're pretty awesome Serena. All the changes in this school… it's because of you."

"I had help…"

"Nothing would have happened here if you hadn't shown up… and stuck around. I'm glad I was right about you. You are different. You're really… I admire you."

"Thanks," Serena blushed.

James leaned in across the table, "Do you mind if…" he pointed to the gap between them. Serena realised what he was suggesting and looked around the cafeteria.

"Most of the school is here."

"They all know," James shrugged his shoulders, "Half of them think I knocked you up."

"How? We met on my first day."

"Kids," James said. He leaned in closer and kissed her for the first time in public. When they parted, he looked her in the eyes, "I l… I really like you."

Serena giggled, "I really like you too."

Suddenly, and without warning, she stole a fry from his plate. James rolled his eyes playfully.

"I should have known."

"What? It's the one thing this school makes that's actually good. I didn't have time to bring anything when Emily called so share, please."

James pushed his tray into the middle of the table so they could both reach, "You're lucky I don't mind sharing food."

Serena picked up another fry, "You know, speaking of Emily… there's still something I need to do."

"Don't you think the little monster's suffered enough?" James asked. He hadn't been around for the climax of Emily's punishment, but his visit to check up on Serena meant he had heard enough. He didn't like the fact that she had beaten up Howie, but he couldn't say he didn't think Howie didn't deserve it."

"I want you to meet the little monster," Serena smiled, "With the exception of my son she's the most important thing in my life."

"I have met her."

"You sat at the same table with her for five minutes before her speech."

"And I saw her sleeping after she was mugged," James smirked.

Serena rolled her eyes then took James' hands, "Please, please, please say yes. The only reason she was at the school to beat up Howie was because she's not comfortable with us. After my last relationship ended in disaster, she's really worried. It'll help if you can show her you're not trying to use me to kill her."

"What?"

"Long story."

"Who the hell did you date?"

"Long story. If you stick around long enough I'll tell you. But first, meet my sister."

James sighed, "Am I going to get killed?"

"Don't mention Zombies and you'll be fine."

"Can I call her?"

Serena laughed and looked at James. Part of her expression was playful, but most of it was serious, "C'mon, just say yes. This is make or break."

"I'll meet her. Anyway to stay on her good side, though? I like my nose the way it is."

"She's a sucker for cookies and ice-cream," Serena shrugged, "but just be yourself."


End file.
